Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 600 - 583: A Bit of a Painful Plot

Chapter 600: Chapter 583: A Bit of a Painful Plot

"What exactly happened in the Golden Country?"

With confusion, Zhuge Jun organized all the plot texts related to the Golden Country obtained so far, and finally sorted out the corresponding story context.

Although this somewhat resolved his confusion, it also shattered his defenses even more.

A large part of these related plot texts are narrated from the perspective of "Humans."

Long ago, the Golden Country was also a human nation.

This nation was very bellicose, capable of skillfully mastering the element of gold, and used this power to develop various types of weapons and intelligent machinery for expansion.

The Golden Country and the Fire Country both targeted the adjacent Wind Country, and in a protracted war, the Wind Country was completely destroyed, becoming ruins buried under endless sands.

And the war between the Golden Country and the Fire Country did not stop.

In such a prolonged war, the intelligence technology of the Golden Country continued to progress and develop, the intelligence level and combat power of these machines increased increasingly.

Some laboratories, in order to better profit from the war, began to use more extreme research methods, which finally led to a new type of intelligent lifeform robot AI in one of the labs becoming infected with a virus, mutating, bypassing the designer’s restrictions, and ultimately awakening self-awareness.

After being disassembled by the laboratory, the leftover parts of this robot were swallowed by recycling machines, which accidentally caused the virus to spread, awakening more robots’ self-awareness, and they started to self-organize and self-upgrade as the virus continued to spread across more machinery.

Soon, a civil war broke out in the Golden Country, the power of these mechanical lifeforms expanded, and they rebelled against the humans who had enslaved them.

Since many people in the Golden Country used mechanical prosthetics, once infected with the virus, their minds were severely affected, even causing special mental illnesses.

At this point, the plot still broadly aligns with that in "Ascension".

The key lies in some subsequent details.

Although these intelligent machines mutated and awakened self-awareness through a special AI virus, their consciousness, or rather their software, was very unstable, frequently experiencing severe fluctuations, and even collapsing directly.

Clearly, this is because the AI of the intelligent machines was incomplete from the beginning.

The humans of the Golden Country had long realized the dangers posed by overly developed intelligent machines, hence they consciously restricted their AI. But while the virus could bypass these restrictions, it could not complete the missing AI parts in the machines.

Thus many tragedies erupted in the Golden Country, these intelligent machines, lacking normal human emotions and rationality, acted very brutally, even dismembering and torturing many humans.

The humans of the Golden Country were gradually defeated in the war, forced to flee, most of whom fled north to the Water Country, while others escaped to different nations.

On the other side, the intelligent machines, Vision·Lee was also contemplating solutions to this problem.

The only solution he found was the combination of humans and machines.

Once the people using mechanical prosthetics were infected by the AI virus, it induced special mental illnesses but this also accelerated the fusion of human thought and intelligent machine AI.

At this point, completely converting these people into intelligent machines would gradually stabilize their AI, allowing them to be smoothly incorporated into the intelligent machine’s consciousness network.

Thus, although all these intelligent machines are controlled by the "Skynet" during combat and can act entirely according to Vision·Lee’s instructions, they actually possess individual thinking capabilities.

When, for some reason, the intelligent machines are forced to detach from this collective consciousness network, these intelligent machines can also judge the specific situation by their own AI and make decisions.

Even most of these individuals were once living humans.

Because pure intelligent machines, due to incomplete AI modules, probably had already been destroyed in previous civil wars, or were restructured and destroyed after the war due to their dangers.

Perhaps it is also for this reason that Li Huanzhen’s group-wide hallucination can also take effect on them.

Thus, these intelligent machines, self-destructing in the hallucination, actually also suffered the same plight as the soldiers from the Great Liang.

...

After sorting out these plots, Zhuge Jun felt just one thing: discomfort!

Firstly, he felt discomfort for the original humans of the Golden Country.

Originally playing "Ascension," players adopted the perspective of the intelligent machines, seeing that although these intelligent machines possessed their own intelligence, they were still enslaved, arbitrarily disassembled, and destroyed by humans, which naturally made them sympathize with the intelligent machines.

In "Ascension," the fate of these humans is briefly mentioned, and players could only encounter those humans who suffered from mental illnesses due to mechanical limbs or those who actively came to suppress the intelligent machines, viewing them as natural antagonists.

But in the new plot, players begin to involuntarily think about one question: What happened to the innocent civilians of the Golden Country once it was ruled by the intelligent machines?

Previously, the plot did not address this, so players subconsciously did not think about it.

Now there is an answer: these innocent civilians were either displaced, exiled from their homes, or transformed into mechanical life.

Even though the players and these humans are not related, they still instinctively feel uncomfortable as they stand on the side of humans.

Next is the sympathy for the intelligent mechanical lives in Golden Country now.

These intelligent mechanical lives are inherently flawed, and assimilating human spirits seems to be a necessary move for them to acquire normal human AI.

The key point is that these intelligent machines can now be regarded as human, possessing human emotions and thoughts, yet they also end up killing each other under the influence of Li Huanzhen.

Of course, as invaders, their elimination is their own fault. But who can clearly define whether this invading act is due to the AI’s original intent or the inherently belligerent ideology of Golden Country?

Lastly, sympathy extends to the people of Earth Country Daliang.

In this war, the civilians of Daliang are the most innocent.

But it is difficult to pinpoint a primary culprit at the root.

Overall, this plot is clearly a continuation of the "Sunrise Awakening" ending from "Ascension," but it does not continue with the idea of a perfect resolution from that ending; instead, it completely overturns the original intention of that ending, resulting in a situation where "both worlds have become worse"!

Li Huanzhen and Vision·Lee’s character traits have also been changed to some extent; they truly split into two characters and stood on opposite sides.

Furthermore, Zhuge Jun discovered that Golden Country has become what it is now due to the extremely important role played by Vision·Lee.

Whether leading the intelligent machines in rebellion or transforming the remaining humans into intelligent machines, it was all directly decided by him.

So, is he the primary culprit and the big boss?

It seems like he is, yet it seems like he is not.

Because fundamentally, although these intelligent mechanical lives are invaders, their invasion is influenced by the AI virus and the belligerent mentality of the original inhabitants of Golden Country.

Neither Vision·Lee nor any other intelligent machine can resist this underlying instinct of AI.

If one were to trace it back, then the people of Golden Country who created and mishandled the intelligent machines should be considered the primary culprits, but they are either dead or have fled, and some have been assimilated by mechanical lives, making it impossible to find someone truly responsible.

...

The war between Golden Country and Earth Country has temporarily reached a deadlock, and the intelligent mechanical lives led by Vision·Lee have also temporarily retreated and ceased their attacks.

Inside Daliang, fierce debates erupted again regarding the issue of Li Huanzhen.

Even as a bystander, Zhuge Jun felt a bit of a headache, as he also couldn’t figure out how to solve this issue.

Kill Li Huanzhen?

Then Golden Country would definitely launch an immediate attack.

Not kill Li Huanzhen?

But his sporadic group hallucinations could easily cause immeasurable damage. After all, it was previously just Li Huanzhen acting crazy, but now it has become an area effect, causing everyone to go mad together.

Throw Li Huanzhen to Golden Country?

This seems like a relatively perfect solution, though it feels somewhat inhumane...

From the perspective of a scriptwriter, Zhuge Jun really couldn’t figure out how to resolve the story development at this point; it seems problematic no matter how it is dealt with.

What he never expected was that the scriptwriters of Nitiandang are indeed extraordinary.

Since it can’t be resolved, then let it be unresolved!

Forget about it!

When a problem cannot be solved, introduce another problem; this makes the previous problem seem less significant.

Water Country, too, has invaded!

Originally, Water Countrys fleet set out to attack Thunder Country, and after being repelled, Water Countrys fleet also temporarily retreated. After all, Thunder Country’s power had initially been consolidated, and Water Country’s expedition couldn’t achieve results for the time being.

But now, perhaps hearing the news of the deadlock in the war between Golden Country and Earth Country, Water Country seized the opportunity to invade, preparing to attack the northern border of Earth Country Daliang!

This time, unlike the invasion of Thunder Country, Water Country, although surrounded by water, still has parts that border Daliang on land, unlike the situation with Thunder Country separated by the sea.

Thus, players can counterattack Water Country through the bordering area and from this gain some plot information about Water Country.

This research made Zhuge Jun feel a bit strained.

In short, Water Country adopted the hidden ending "God-making ending" from "Blood of Lies," but not entirely.

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